The purpose of this project is to understand the molecular mechanism by which genes for connective tissue proteins are differentially regulated during normal development and in disease states. We are using recombinant DNA technology and conventional methods in nucleic acid biochemistry and cell culture to study the structure and expression of genes coding for both (1) extracellular and cell associated structural proteins, e. g. collagen types I-V and proteoglycan and (2) attachment proteins e.g. fibronectin, chondronectin, and laminin.